Atlantis Rising (The Myth Hunter Book 6)

by Percival Constantine

  Contents

  Title Page

  Before You Start...

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Find Your Next Adventure!

  Afterword

  Also by Percival Constantine

  About the Author

  Copyright

  When what appears to be the skeleton of an ancient being is discovered, it triggers a chain of events that could very well lead to the end of the world. Now, Elisa Hill is the only one who can prevent the rise of an ancient evil, but is this too big even for her? The Myth Hunter epic concludes here!

  ATLANTIS RISING

  A Myth Hunter Adventure By

  Percival Constantine

  BEFORE YOU START...

  Just go to percivalconstantine.com/subscribe to get your free stories!

  CHAPTER 1

  Maxwell Finch looked out the window as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean whipped past them below. He sat back in his chair and took off his glasses, cleaning the lenses with a small cloth obtained from the inside pocket of his blazer.

  “We should be arriving shortly, Professor,” said the pilot.

  Max gave him a nod and a polite smile. When he put his glasses back on, he could see the ship off in the distance, the Ignatius. The home of this deep-sea Atlantic excavation grew larger as the helicopter approached.

  The pilot maneuvered the helicopter over the ship’s helipad and slowly descended. The landing skids touched down on the surface and as the spinning blades slowed, crew members rushed up to the helipad to secure it to the boat.

  Max’s door was opened for him and he climbed out of the helicopter. The crewman who did offered his hand and a smile.

  “Professor Finch, it’s an honor to meet you. I’m Peter Webber, the ship’s captain.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Captain.” Max was grateful as helicopter engine stopped so that now he didn’t have to raise his voice.

  “Dr. McCartney is waiting for you below deck.” Captain Webber turned, leading Max from the helipad.

  “Do you know what this is at all about, Captain?” asked Max as he followed, holding the strap slung diagonally across his body, attached to a leather bag.

  “Oh yeah, but I’m under strict orders not to reveal anything. Dr. McCartney said he wants you to see it for yourself.”

  “Can you tell me anything about it? I’ve come all this way…”

  “Yeah, there’s one thing I can tell you.” Webber paused and turned, smiling at the professor. “It’s gonna blow your mind.”

  Max raised his eyebrows in interest, then followed the captain in silence. They entered a stairwell and climbed down a few decks before exiting into a narrow corridor. Captain Webber continued to lead Max to a closed door and he banged on the heavy metal a few times.

  The door opened and a young man with a thick beard and dark eyes stood on the other side. Once he laid eyes on Max, he offered a broad smile and stepped out. Max returned the smile and the two men hugged.

  “Good to see you again, Russ,” said Max.

  “You too,” replied Russell McCartney. “Come in, come in.”

  Russ stepped deeper into the room and made a path for Max to follow. Webber stuck his head into the doorway but didn’t cross the threshold. “I’ll leave you two. Gotta keep an eye on this rotten crew of mine.”

  “Thanks, Pete.” Russ gave him a departing wave. Webber closed the door behind him and his footsteps receded down the corridor.

  “So, while it’s great to see a former student, please tell me you have a good reason for making me fly all the way out here.”

  Russ gave a chuckle. “So you were in London?”

  “Lecture tour, also looking into some things for another former student.”

  “Well, I think you’ll find this worth the trip.” Russ led Max to another door and opened it. “We’ve been combing the ocean floor, sending out divers to see what they could find. And we picked up the motherload.”

  He held the door open and gestured inside. Max took a few steps, but they slowed considerably when he saw what was on the other side. His jaw fell open and he removed his glasses. Max inched closer and closer. He looked over his shoulder.

  “Is this…what am I looking at?”

  “You tell me.”

  Max stepped closer. The find was kept behind glass and he slowly placed a hand on the surface. It was fused into the rock but it was clear what they were looking at was a skeleton—definitely a human. Except it had a very unique characteristic. The bones of what looked like wings protruding from its back.

  “Are you telling me this is an angel?” asked Max.

  “I have no idea what it is, that’s why I called you here,” said Russ.

  “We have to keep this quiet. If the public gets wind of this, do you imagine what sort of chaos it will cause?”

  “Religious groups will go nuts, I agree. But what do you think it really is?”

  Max shook his head, eyes still wide as he examined the fossil. “Russ, I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my life. I know there’s a lot more to the world than most people are aware of. But I’ve never in all my years seen anything to suggest that angels are real.”

  “Then either you’ve just been proven wrong, or this is something else.”

  Max’s eyes continued to travel up and down the specimen. “And you said you found this on the ocean floor?”

  “Yeah. But judging from the condition, it seems like it must’ve been buried deeper. We were checking out some ruins and we found this.”

  Max turned away from the fossil and put his glasses back on. “What ruins would those be?”

  “Rumored resting places of Atlantis.”

  Max looked at the skeleton again. He bit his bottom lip as he thought about how coincidental this seemed. Elisa asked him to investigate any potential leads on the Thule Society, whose goal was to resurrect Atlantis. The Society’s leadership was gone, but there were still factions out there. And it was Elisa’s hope that they could use any information on the Society to help them discover what their old enemies, the Order, were up to.

  ***

  Black, unmarked helicopters armed with mini-guns approached the Ignatius. The man who sat in the co-pilot’s seat looked behind him at the commandos who were ready to go. They all wore masks and were armed with automatic rifles, their uniforms as black and unmarked as the attack choppers.

  This man, however, was dressed in a white suit with a black shirt and a mandarin collar. He had long, silver hair and a sheathed katana sword was lain across his lap.

  “Target in range,” said the pilot.

  The silver-haired man smiled and said one word: “Fire.”

  Not only the chopper he rode in but the others that accompanied them unleashed salvos of rounds on the Ignatius’ deck. The first thing they targeted was the helicopter Max had arrived in, rendering it useless.

  The crew scattered across the deck, struggling to find some way to defend themselves or simply abandoning the ship. The choppers continued their approach, opening fire whenever they had an opportunity.

  “Get ready,” the silver-haired man said to the commandos. “Remember, ever
yone but the target is expendable.”

  The helicopters positioned themselves over the deck and one by one, the commandos dropped down from ropes. They brought their guns to the ready and started moving about, shooting anyone who got in their way.

  ***

  The sounds of gunfire reached down to the lower decks where Max and Russ were standing. Max gave Russ a questioning look, but Russ’ expression showed his confusion. The older professor moved into the main room, but remained by the door.

  “Do you have any weapons?”

  “What?” asked Russ. “The Ignatius’ a research vessel, Max.”

  “I guess that’s a no.” Max sighed. He’d been retired from the myth hunter profession for some time now, but he cursed himself for not coming prepared. He needed a weapon if they were going to have any hope of getting out of here.

  Something else occurred to him. Max walked back to the artifact, taking his cell phone out of his blazer pocket.

  “What are you doing?” asked Russ.

  “First thing’s first.” Max held up the phone, activating the camera feature. He snapped a picture of the find and sent it in an email, along with the Ignatius’ coordinates. “In case we don’t make it out of this.”

  “Make it—what?”

  “Quiet.” Max returned to the door and waited. He heard footsteps moving rapidly. Then a burst of gunfire and a thump. An unlucky crew member trying to escape, it seemed.

  Russ looked like he wanted to make a break for it. But Max held out his hand to steady him. They heard the door handle turning. Max prepared himself. When the door opened inward, a commando stepped inside.

  Max delivered a punch to the commando’s face with his right hand, while grabbing the gun with his left. He wrestled it away from the commando and turned it on him, opening fire. The commando slumped to the ground and Max stepped out into the corridor.

  “Stay here,” he told Russ.

  With slow, deliberate steps, he moved down the hall. He kept his footfalls as quiet as possible, getting to the stairwell. Max climbed up the decks until he reached the top. Upon opening the door, he saw the body of Captain Webber and muttered a curse under his breath.

  Something struck him from behind and Max went tumbling across the deck. He regained his footing and spun around. But when he saw the man standing in front of him—all dressed in white, silver hair caught in the wind, emerald eyes fixed upon him—Max lowered the gun in surprise.

  “It can’t be,” he said. “You died. In Lemuria.”

  “Yes, I did,” said Seth. He moved like a silver blur, crossing the distance between them before Max could recover from his shock enough to raise the weapon. Seth’s blade was drawn and struck the gun, the force knocking it from Max’s hands.

  A kick to his legs brought Max falling hard on his back. Seth pointed the tip of his blade at the professor’s throat.

  “You should have stayed retired, old man. But fortunately for you, my employer has need of your services.”

  CHAPTER 2

  The back of the hand struck Elisa Hill’s face and her head rocked to the side. She looked up at the man who had struck her. She smiled and spat in his face. He recoiled, wiping the saliva from his face, a bit of it trickling down into his beard. His eyes narrowed at her and he struck her again.

  Elisa laughed. “Is that all you got, Vijay?”

  She spat once more. This time, Vijay’s men, who mostly held knives and blunt instruments, moved towards their captive. But Vijay held up his hand to keep them at bay. He cleaned his face off once more.

  “The great Elisa Hill. All tied up and nowhere to go.” Vijay chuckled and his men followed suit. His smile faded. “You never should’ve come back to India.”

  Elisa looked up. It definitely wasn’t the ideal situation. Here she was, her hands tied above her head. She looked across the room. On a table at the far end of the room were her kukri daggers.

  “How about you just level with me, Vi?” she asked. “I don’t care about what kind of smuggling jobs your gang is up to. I just want to know if you’ve done business with Wade in the past six months.”

  “The Order is the least of your concerns.” Vijay walked over to the table and picked up one of her kukri. He carried it back, staring at the metal and running his fingers across the blade’s surface. “This is a nice weapon. Fitting that your life will end in the same manner you’ve ended so many others.”

  The sound of someone screaming, “I hate snakes, Jock!” drew everyone’s attention, and Vijay and his men turned, bringing up their weapons. Elisa just rolled her eyes.

  “It’s my phone. New message alert.”

  “What kind of alert is that?” asked Vijay.

  “My partner has a habit of breaking into my phone and changing the alert to that,” said Elisa. “She thinks it’s hilarious.”

  One of the men went to the table where all Elisa’s belongings were. He found a smartphone among them and tossed it to Vijay, who easily caught it with his free hand. He looked at the screen and scoffed.

  “Seems your friend has more jokes.” Vijay approached Elisa and held up the phone so she could see.

  Elisa studied the screen. It was a message from Max. A set of coordinates and a photograph. Of a skeleton with what looked to be wings. Then a final message with three letters—SOS.

  “Thanks, that’s all I needed.”

  Vijay turned and passed the phone to one of his men. And in that moment, Elisa swung her legs out, kicking him in the back. Vijay fell into his men and they stumbled to get around. Elisa swung from the beam, avoiding any strikes the men tried to get in, while also kicking back.

  Her foot found a knife that had been dropped. She clutched it between her first two toes and raised her leg up, grateful that they’d removed her boots when searching for weapons. The blade flew from her toes and Elisa caught it in her fingers.

  As another thug came at her, Elisa swung again, kicking him square in the chest with both feet. She held the knife between her fingers and worked it against the rope. It snapped and she dodged the swing of a cricket bat. When she came back up, she delivered an uppercut to her attacker.

  Elisa had a straight line to the table. She leapt for it, grabbing the remaining kukri and spinning just in time to cut into the arm of a man who was about to strike her. He recoiled and she elbowed him in the head.

  Another attacker swung a chain. Elisa ducked and pounced, going for his legs and toppling him to the ground. She rolled out from under him and kicked him in the head while he was down.

  One more. He held a dagger in each hand. Charging at her, he swung them wildly. Elisa used her kukri to deflect. She sidestepped and spun around him, pushing him into the table. Then she jammed the kukri into his side and twisted.

  Drawing the blade out, she walked towards Vijay. He stood, holding out her other kukri in a defensive stance. Elisa watched him, getting ready herself. She shook her head at him.

  “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way.”

  “Maybe if you knew your place, whore!”

  “Oooh, you really shouldn’t have gone there.” Elisa lunged and Vijay stepped back, narrowly avoiding her attack. He moved against her, trying to jab her weapon into her. Elisa parried and grabbed his arm. She pulled him close and then drew the blade across his throat.

  Vijay gagged on his blood, then collapsed on the ground. Elisa sighed and wiped the blood from her kukri. She knelt down and picked up the second one that Vijay wielded, as well as her phone. Elisa approached the table and got her things ready as she made a call and put it on speakerphone.

  “Laki, it’s me.”

  “About time. Did you get anything from Vijay?” asked Laki over the phone’s speaker.

  “Only a waste of my time. But I think something else has come up. Do me a favor and see if you can reach Max.”

  “Sure, I’m on it. I’ll see you soon?”

  While donning her boots, Elisa heard footsteps from outside. She looked through the windows of this em
pty store Vijay was using as a front. More of his men, this time armed with guns. She fastened her belt with the kukri scabbards on the back and a few pouches with additional supplies. Elisa sheathed her daggers and picked up the phone.

  “Elisa?”

  “I’ll have to call you back, I’m about to have some company.”

  There were stairs leading up to the second floor. Elisa wasted no time bounding up the steps as gunfire erupted into the shop. From the second floor, she climbed out a window and grabbed the eave. She could see the men down on the street and they took notice of her, turning their guns up.

  Elisa scrambled onto the roof as the gunfire erupted again. The area was filled with people, who were now screaming and trying to get away from the commotion as fast as possible. It was a good idea, and one she planned to emulate. Staying low, she ran across the expanse of the roof and jumped across the alley to the next one. Her booted feet hit the ground in a skid and once she had sure footing, she darted forward again.

  Another jump, another roof. But now she had company. Two men had climbed up to the rooftops and cut off her escape route. Elisa ducked behind the rooftop entrance as they opened fire. She looked back the way she came and saw more were coming from that direction, too. They were getting ready to fire and she had to act quickly.

  Her hand went to one of the pouches on her belt and she produced shuriken that she flung in the direction of the oncoming thugs. With those gone, she drew her kukri and climbed on the rooftop entrance. Elisa jumped from it, bringing death from above on one of the thugs. When his partner turned to deal with the threat, Elisa threw a kukri at his throat and he fell back, the gun spraying bullets haphazardly.

  She retrieved her weapon and moved to the roof’s edge. Elisa glanced to see the others still coming. Then she saw a crowded bus approaching with people seated on the roof. Elisa jumped as the bullets cut through the space she had just occupied.

  Her feet hit the bus and the people on the roof tried to give her as much room as they could. Elisa was more concerned with the men who were after her. A glance back at the rooftops showed them at the edge, watching her with impotent anger. The bus was now too far for them to shoot at her.